Course Topics
M1: 1) Pricing strategies: a real-world example to start with 2) Market structure and market power 3) Monopolistic price discrimination 4) Monopolistic pricing in digital markets 5) Competition and differentiation M2: 1) Networks and platforms 2) Institutions, knowledge diffusion, government and growth 3) R&D, patents and standardization 4) Nurturing innovation – entrepreneurship, innovators and ideas 5) Asymmetric information and financing innovation 6) Industrial policy, strategic autonomy and innovation

Teaching format
Lectures + exercise sessions + students presentations + case studies and in-class discussion

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of the models and instruments of economic-business analysis for the creation of a new company with particular attention to the identification of new market opportunities, the availability and procurement of economic-financial resources and technological and organisational skills for the development of the company The student acquires advanced knowledge and understanding of the models and tools of economic-business analysis for the management of a new enterprise, from the financial and organisational point of view and with respect to the dynamics of growth and development I/we acquire advanced knowledge and understanding of the theories and tools for the economic analysis of business decisions. I/we acquire knowledge and understanding of theories and tools for the economic analysis of the market, at the level of the individual enterprise and the supply system I/we acquire knowledge and understanding of the theories and tools of statistical analysis for making market forecasts I/we acquire knowledge of the legal forms required for setting up a company and for the legal protection of intellectual property rights I/we acquire advanced knowledge and understanding of models for new product development and innovation management within enterprises I/we acquire advanced knowledge and understanding of business analysis tools and solutions for the development of innovations and organisational knowledge I/we acquire advanced knowledge and understanding of innovation economics models and systems for regional innovation development The student acquires knowledge of quantitative models for the formulation of forecasts necessary to guide management decisions and to predict the life cycle of a product and a sector Ability to apply knowledge and understanding ability to acquire and select information that may be relevant from an entrepreneurial point of view, also in economic-productive contexts different from those studied ability to analyse the combination of market opportunities and resources of the enterprise and to identify entrepreneurial formulas, also with the elaboration of original, compatible and sustainable solutions and combinations ability to select business economics models, suitable for the appropriate analysis of a specific economic-social and productive context ability to select the tools for the strategy and management of the enterprise, consistent with the enterprise economy models considered appropriate ability to assess the potential and sustainability of new business projects (business plan), from a multidisciplinary (economic, business and legal) perspective ability to assess the entrepreneurial potential associated with the development of an innovation by an enterprise (learning area 2) ability to propose and implement strategic and operational courses of action conducive to the creation of a new enterprise ability to acquire and select relevant information to frame cases of innovation (product, service, social, managerial organisational), also different from the contexts studied ability to propose and implement strategic and operational lines of action that favour the development of innovation by a company Autonomy of judgement Acquire the ability to analyse complex entrepreneurial problems, such as the elaboration and evaluation of an entrepreneurial project (business plan) or the development of a new product. Acquire the ability to make predictions, such as analysing the future consequences of entrepreneurial, managerial and operational choices. Autonomy of judgement is developed in the training activities carried out for the preparation of the thesis, as well as in the exercises that accompany the lectures and that involve group discussions and the comparison of individual analyses carried out by students in preparation for the lecture. Communication skills Acquire the ability to describe and communicate in an intercultural context, in a clear and precise manner, problematic situations typical of the management of a new enterprise and the development of innovation, such as, for example, the conditions for the validation of a problem or solution, the prospects and risks associated with a business model or an innovation project. The development of communication competences assumes heterogeneous situations such as, for example, the presence of internal stakeholders (e.g. colleagues, managers, owners), or external stakeholders (e.g. potential investors, suppliers and other business partners) and the ability to sustain an adversarial process. The achievement of these objectives is assessed in the course of the training activities already mentioned, as well as in the discussion of the final thesis. Learning ability Acquire the ability to study independently, to prepare summaries. Acquire the ability to identify thematic connections and to establish relationships between different cases and contexts of analysis Acquire the ability to frame a new problem systematically and to generate appropriate taxonomies. Acquire the ability to develop general models from the phenomena studied.

Assessment
The assessment takes into consideration the combined acquisition of the learning outcome reached by the students in the two modules. Over the course, students are expected to participate to class discussion based on topic assigned in advance. They are also given written final exam, project works, and oral presentations

Evaluation criteria
The final grade will be the arithmetic average of the grade in M1 and in M2. A minimum grade of 15 in both modules is required For M1 and M2: For attending students: individual written final exam test (at most 70%); course work (at least 30%). For not attending students: final exam 100% The final exam will assess the following skills: Ability to understand the impact of firms’ incentives in designing firms’ competitive strategy (pricing, entry) Ability to understand incentives for firms to collaborate and to innovate in environments characterized by complementarities and network externalities Ability to understand both the private incentives and the welfare consequences of firms’ strategies Ability to assess, within a managerial perspective, costs and benefits of innovative activity within a firm, both in the short and in the medium-long run Ability to identify, from the viewpoint of a manager, the innovation protection tools that best fit the different contexts, assessing their costs and benefits Ability to assess, within a policy-maker perspective, effectiveness and efficiency of the various industrial policy instruments for innovation. Ability to assess the role of institutions (private sector vs public sector) in promoting and supporting innovation Students are expected both to be able to solve formal economic models, and to discuss their implications.